Focus & Perspective

Last year, 2021, was without a doubt an unprecedented year. Despite lockdowns, cutbacks, and a 2020s recession, architecture firms surpassed payroll levels from the years before the pandemic. This meant more staff were being hired because there was more work, and there was more work…

Meetings are an essential component of any healthy functioning workplace. They bring people together to discuss a common goal and the ways to achieve that. Meetings are especially valuable to project managers as they provide an overview of where the team has progressed on a…

Listening to, clearly identifying, then meeting client expectations, can be a gruelling task. There is a fine line between going above and beyond to please your clients, and getting taken advantage of. However, effectively managing your clients’ expectations is the key to maintaining a healthy…

Which is more important? Easy to think that it’s Strategy since it has to come before the Tactics that implement it, or that it Strategy’s sweep is greater. If Strategy is finding the right targets, Tactics is crafting arrows that can hit the bullseye. Without…

Never let the expectations of others, or even your own past history, curtail your growth. This Norfolk Island Pine is midway between my home and office. No other tree in the vicinity is doing what this tree is doing. What is it thinking? Where is…

There is life on the other side of this chasm. You’ll be there, and we’ll be there. We will do whatever we can to help you through – to be stronger, more capable and in better shape to tackle tomorrow’s design & construction projects. Nobody…

A design node is a locus for focus, where people think and rethink about what design professions are doing. Are you one of them? One of the definitions for node is “a point in a network or diagram at which lines or pathways intersect or branch”. I think…

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana The memory of an organisation is the sum of the memories of the people who work there and who have worked there, to the extent that those memories are used in carrying…

TRUST is the most precious, powerful, important and elusive facet of design practice. Ten years to create, 5 minutes to destroy. Every architect I’ve ever met, I’m 100% certain, would consider himself/herself trustworthy. But do their clients trust them? Trust them to spend their massive…

Managing people is about influencing their behaviour. There are two “managing upward” scenarios: First, the need to influence the behaviour of a person senior to you, and Second, to influence the behaviour of a secondary client, for example where you are employed by another consultant…

Recently I upgraded an old post on the above topic. In checking how far back in time this concept went, I did a little research. With full credit to Wikipedia, I found that the concept originated about the 4th C. AD. I’m not sure if PMs (or…

After attending the terrific Australian Institute of Architects RISK 2015 national conference, I – and many others – realised that there was a big, hairy elephant in the room: RISK. A battalion of great presenters felt its various parts, reported what they found, and a few…

The idea of the Seven Deadly Sins, or “Cardinal” Sins, has been around since the 4th Century AD. They were then (and perhaps still are): wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. They originated from the works of Greek monk, Evagrius Ponticus. The Catholic Church…

The whole idea of “thought leadership” is so attractive to those who want to see themselves elevated above the rest, or who see that need as a new business opportunity, that it persists and seems to be gaining traction. I, and a few others, sense…

Risk shadows your every step whether you think about it or not. Anyone can sue you, at anytime, for anything. However, the greatest risk of all is not taking any risk. The secret is: become a low-risk practice to give you the competitive advantage you need. How…

Keeping your eyes fixed on the future is the best way to repeat the mistakes of the past. In Bob Dylan’s famous song “She Belongs to Me”, the refrain is “She’s an artist. She don’t look back”. That describes a lot of architects I know….

While checklists may sound awfully conventional, they are an effective tool that can help built environment professionals succeed in this contemporary, ever-changing world. Architects often have repetitive tasks to complete, and without guidance, certain steps can be forgotten in the process. The checklist is a simple…

I have been in discussion with colleagues as to the best way to make a technical manual readable, exciting, a “must-read page-turner”. These discussions have been continuing in whatever part of one’s brain is at work while the rest is asleep. Last night I had…

Analytics only tell us what people did, not why they did it. I found that small but perfect gem in the rich ore of Ann Handley’s Everybody Writes. Most of our research is about what decisions people make, not why they made them. Then we start making assumptions about the whys –…

The more I work with our many and varied clients across Australia and New Zealand, and the more I read about success strategies from scores of authorities, the more convinced I become that the “keystone” strategy – the one you’d need if you could only…

What does it take to get your message across to your prospective clients? How can you be heard above the clamour? What is the strength of your “signal to noise” ratio? One thing you can be certain of is that pushing your service offerings at your…

The most important process in Quality Management System (QMS) development is NOT Strategic Planning, but Continual Improvement. Here’s why. In almost all business strategic planning, the focus begins with a desire to change the future of the organisation; to get to “where we want to be”….

Communication plays an integral role in all facets of life, and is at the heart of every business. There is an abundance of evidence and expert opinion demonstrating that a major cause of client dissatisfaction stems from inadequate information exchange between designer and client. For a practice…

The world as we know it is changing rapidly. The present reality of design practice is that it is transforming at its fastest rate in architectural history. Our choices are to change with it, or risk becoming obsolete. Design practice is in a precarious situation,…

A common mistake made by those in small practices is thinking about the client to begin with, but then shifting focus to the project once it begins. This change in focus often results in neglecting the client’s wants and needs. In order for the project…

Quality management (QM), like risk, is everywhere. It is a vital part of the design process, whether or not noticeably present or acknowledged. There is very little, if anything, about design and construction industry output that doesn’t come under the umbrella of ‘quality’. A program…

Every design professional I’ve ever met would like to know how to find great clients, or at least convert the clients they’ve got into better clients. A small fraction of them think about this from the other side: How could they become better clients as well?…

Recently I discovered some fascinating research, the subject of an article in the January 2011 issue of ARCHITECT, the journal of the American Institute of Architects. Amanda Kolson Hurley discusses research by Robert Gaarder, entitled “A Difficult Character”, on a small but valid sample of 100…